It is not uncommon for shows to change showrunners; Shonda Rhimes hasn’t worked on Grey’s Anatomy in a really long time. However, this did not prove to be a change for the better for the Freeform series The Bold Type.
The atmosphere feels drastically different in Season 4 of the series. I’ll admit not right away but definitely by Episode 3. While meant in a positive way, the messages of the series seem to be approached in a more preachy way.
Everything seems to be escalated from Jane Sloan’s (Katie Stevens) decision to get a double mastectomy to Kat Edison (Aisha Dee) losing her job for standing against Safford’s stand on conversion therapy.
These characters feel like 2D replicas of the ones that fans have grown to love over the prior three seasons.
To begin with—major spoilers ahead!— in the first episode of season 4, Jacqueline Caryle (Melora Hardin) has been fired from Scarlet magazine and everyone is freaking out. Especially her assistant, Andrew (Adam Capriola).
While this season does have many positive attributes such as Andrew’s marvelous drag performance as the boss who he idolizes and the wedding of Sutton Brady and Richard Hunter, they are overshadowed by the things that I will be focusing on below.
The series botches its attempts to introduce Sloan’s family. Instead focusing on—or rather excusing the behavior of—her boyfriend Ryan Decker (Dan Jeannotte) who cheated on her. Rather than making it into a realistic discussion about the issue, the series literally sends Sloan to cheat on him right back at a sex club in the fourth episode.
Next up is the complete character conversion of one, Adena El-Amin (Nikohl Boosheri). Everyone’s favorite self-described proud, Muslim lesbian. She comes back into the series after a seemingly long absence, not seen at all between season 3 episode 9 and season 4 episode 7. In the time between her constant on/off love interest, Edison has had a life-changing epitome. She thinks that she might be bisexual. Not a huge change for the character, but a change, nonetheless. Amin reacts to this discovery in an uncharacteristically malicious way. Believing that Edison is erasing what they once had together.
After this debacle is seemingly remedied, Amin enlists Edison for help. In a storyline focused on the trauma incurred by institutions that utilize conversion therapy and Edison fighting to publish an explosive article about it. Which ultimately not only costs Edison her job but also causes her to be blacklisted from the industry. As well as the subsequent consequences. Including Edison’s parents forcing her to move out of her apartment.
The result is a second part—the season was split into two parts by the network—in which Edison is tending bar at an exclusive club and developing romantic feelings for the conservative company lawyer who ultimately caused her current predicament. A storyline protested by both the fans and the cast. The relationship comes to a sloppy resolution in the season finale.
Meanwhile, in part 2, Sloan is dealing with the aftermath of her decision to get a preventative mastectomy after her BRCA results in season 1. She no longer feels comfortable in her own skin and is visibly struggling with the fact of her new implants.
In what is possibly the most controversial move, the series follows up the wedding of Sutton Brady-Hunter (2025 Emmy Award nominee, Meghann Fahy) and Richard Hunter (Sam Page) with an almost immediate pregnancy and miscarriage. Leading to a conversation that honestly should have been had years ago. After her miscarriage, Sutton Brady-Hunter comes to the realization that just maybe she never does want to have kids, a conversation that comes to a head in the season’s penultimate episode.
The season ends with Sutton Brady-Hunter escaping to her hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to seek support from her mom, Babs (Rya Kihlstedt), who had once again fallen off the wagon and had gone with some friends to Atlantic City. After a tryst with former boyfriend, Billy (Billy Magnussen), Sutton takes her wedding ring off and shakes it off with the girls. Leading to a much glossed over portrayal of alcoholism in Sutton following a majorly shortened final season, due to Covid.
The Bold Type is currently available to stream on Hulu and HBO Max.
Photos courtesy of social media
